Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw hit his first career home run in the eighth inning to break a scoreless tie, and went on to finish off the San Francisco Giants on a four hit shutout 4-0. Kershaw struck out seven and walked one. Kershaw’s homer was the first by a pitcher on opening day since Joe Magrane of St. Louis in 1988 and became the first Dodgers pitcher to accomplish the feat since Don Drysdale in 1965.
San Francisco Giants starter Matt Cain pitched six scoreless innings, struck out eight and walked one and got a no decision. Carl Crawford starting his first game for the Dodgers collected two hits and scored a run on a wild pitch by Santiago Casilla to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.
The Dodgers got their last two runs on RBI groundouts by Andre Ethier and A.J. Ellis. The two teams meet again tomorrow with Madison Bumgarner starting for the Giants and Hyun-JIn Ryu starting his first game for the Dodgers.
